To celebrate Vikings Live, we have replaced our Roman alphabet with the runic alphabet used by the Vikings, the Scandinavian ‘Younger Futhark’. The ‘Younger Futhark’ has only 16 letters, so we have used some of the runic letters more than once or combined two runes for one Roman letter.

Principle investigator

Other staff

Partners

Professor Malcolm McLeod, University of Glasgow

David Darkwah, Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumase

Gordon Frimpong, Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumase

Supported by

The A.G. Leventis Foundation

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This projects aims to research and publish the British Museum collection of 219 pieces of gold regalia from Asante including personal items of adornment and badges of royal office which date from 1818 to 1982.

The resulting online research catalogue will provide an introduction to Asante arts and culture, metal-casters and metal-working techniques, a chronological overview of the history of the Museum collection and a stylistic identification of regalia types.

The British Museum launched this project in 2009 supported by a grant from the A.G. Leventis Foundation. Professor Malcolm McLeod led the initial research to document technical aspects of Asante gold regalia in collaboration with Africa Programme partners at the Manhyia Palace Museum, Kumase.

The project has benefited throughout from this collaborative exchange which has brought new insights and an enhanced cultural understanding of Asante regalia. The catalogue is greatly enhanced by the addition of photographs that have been supplied by and reproduced with the kind permission of the Manhyia Palace Museum.